The US would not give up on Taiwan in the short term and would not reach a major deal on cross-strait issues when US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) meet in South Korea on Thursday, an academic said yesterday.
Trump has said he would bring up Taiwan in his talks with Xi, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said the US would not seek a favorable trade agreement with China at the price of “walking away from Taiwan.”
Trump-Xi talks create unease with Taiwanese as the US president’s behavior is unpredictable, which has been compounded by US tariffs and his pressure on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to expand investments in the US, an official familiar with Chinese “united front” tactics said.
Photo: Chen Fu-yu, Taipei Times
That is why Rubio made public remarks that the meeting would not put Taiwan at stake, they said.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants Washington to support its anti-Taiwanese independence position, but China’s assertion that it could take Taiwan by force complicates the problem, the official said.
“Anyone who does not support cross-strait ‘reunification,’ including those who support the Republic of China, can be accused [by the CCP] of ‘supporting Taiwanese independence,’” they said.
US skepticism sentiment has risen in Taiwan as the CCP spreads news ahead of the talks, they added.
However, Washington would be going against the “six assurances” it pledged to Taiwan in a 1982 joint communique if it were to join China in opposing Taiwanese independence, they said.
Tamkang University Center for Cross-Strait Relations director Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳) said at a seminar at National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations that Taiwan is the most sensitive, most important issue between the US and China, but it is not the most urgent matter, and therefore would not be prioritized in this week’s talks.
Compared with other issues that could have severe consequences — such as those concerning tariffs, trade, economics and technology — the Taiwan-US relationship has not been at the center of the current conflict between the US and China, he said.
Although Beijing would prefer Washington to shift to an “anti-Taiwanese independence” stance and would elaborate on its so-called cross-strait “reunification” policy during the talks, both sides know they must minimize disagreements and avoid miscalculations, Chang said.
The talks are unlikely to result in a major agreement on cross-strait issues, he added.
The two countries still lack mutual trust, he said.
Xi does not have any bargaining chip good enough to satisfy Trump, and there are also disagreements in China about whether Trump is credible, he said.
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